The Beat Movement
The Beat generation was a group of American writers and artists popular in the 1950s. The people in the Beat movement, often referred to as Beatniks, were influenced by eastern philosophy and religion and famous for their use of interesting forms of writing and their rejection of traditional social and artistic principles.
Writing topics:
-Emphasized a spiritual yearning
-Used imagery from Buddhism, Judaism, and Catholicism
-Drugs
-Sexuality
The Beat writings usually pushed the boundaries of the acceptance in the 1950s. The original beat writers were William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. They used the word “beat” to describe their free style of writing and their nontraditional crazy way of life. The major works of Beat writing are Allen Ginsberg's Howl, William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Jack Kerouac's On the Road.